1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink-jet printer. Particularly, the present invention relates to the arrangement of ink cartridges. The present invention also relates to the arrangement of an ink absorber.
2. Related Art
Generally, an ink-jet printer is provided with an ink jet head for jetting an ink droplet from a nozzle toward a recording medium such as paper and an ink cartridge for supplying ink to the head.
Various cartridges are known, such as the type mounted on a carriage together with a head and a type installed in a printer so that the cartridge can be detached.
In an ink-jet printer adopting the type of cartridge installed in the printer so that it can be detached, an operating lever and a loading mechanism respectively for attaching or detaching the ink cartridges are eliminated to reduce the cost and minimize the structure.
As recent ink-jet printers enable printing in plural colors such as dichromatic printing and full color printing by four colors or more, plural ink cartridges are required.
FIGS. 23(a) and (b) show an example of a part in which cartridges are installed in an ink-jet printer adopting a type of cartridge installed in the printer so that the cartridges can be detached. FIG. 23(a) is a plan view and FIG. 23(b) is a front view.
Reference number 1 denotes a part in which cartridges are installed in which an ink supply needle 1a is provided. The installed part 1 is provided with a bottom plate 4 on which ink cartridges 2 are installed. A standing wall 5 is provided on the inner part of the bottom plate 4, and the above ink supply needle 1a is attached to the standing wall 5.
Each of the cartridges 2 is provided with a case 2a, an ink bag 2b housed in the case 2a and a rubber cap 2c secured to the ink bag 2b. As shown by arrow a1 in FIG. 23(a), the cartridges are installed by pushing them toward the installed part 1.
The ink supply needle 1a pierces the rubber cap 2c so that the end of the needles extends into the ink bag 2b when the cartridges 2 are pushed into the installed part 1. As a result, ink in the bag 2b is supplied to a head (not shown) via the ink supply needle 1a and an ink tube 3 connected to the needle 1a.
When the cartridges 2 are detached, they are moved in a direction shown by arrow a2. A part 2d for grasping the cartridges is provided on the case 2a for extracting the cartridges.
As is clear from FIGS. 23(a) and (b), in the above printer, plural colors of ink cartridges 2 (Y, M, C and K) are arranged in parallel. Ink for yellow, magenta, cyan and black is housed in respective ink bags 2b in the ink cartridges 2Y, 2M, 2C and 2K.
In the meantime, when failure of dot generation occurs when a nozzle of a head is clogged in an ink-jet printer, the nozzle face of the head is normally capped. Ink in the head is then forcedly discharged outside the head by sucking with a pump via the cap and a nozzle. The ink discharged from the pump is discharged in a waste ink absorber as waste ink. In the above printer, as shown in FIGS. 24(a) and 24(b), a waste ink absorber 6 is arranged on the side of the cartridges 2.
When the above cartridges are installed or detached, ink may drop from the ink supply needle 1a. Thus, the inside of a printer becomes contaminated and, in an extreme case, the ink may flow out of the printer.
To prevent such a situation, an ink absorber 7, different from the above waste ink absorber 6, is arranged under the ink supply needle 1a. In FIG. 24(b), reference number 3d denotes an aperture provided in the bottom plate 4. Ink which drips from the ink supply needle 1a is absorbed in the ink absorber 7 through the aperture 3d.
The above ink-jet printer has the following problems:
Problem 1
As plural ink cartridges 2 are only arranged in parallel in the above ink-jet printer, an interval L between the cartridges 2 must be large to facilitate holding a cartridge 2 when it is installed or detached. Therefore, the width of the printer is increased.
Problem 2
It is desirable in an ink-jet printer that a metallic tube be used for an ink tube 3 connected to the ink supply needle 1a for supplying ink in the bag 2b to a head. If a metallic tube is used, an L-type tube (for example, a tube bent to the left in FIG. 23(a)) may be required for the convenience of tube arrangement.
However, as plural ink cartridges 2 are only arranged in parallel in the ink-jet printer shown in FIGS. 23(a) and (b), a different type of tube (a tube different in the length in the direction shown by the arrow a1 in FIG. 23(a)) is required to prevent interference between tubes if an L-type tube is utilized.
Problem 3
In the ink-jet printer shown in FIGS. 24(a) and (b), since the additional ink absorber 7 (i.e., in addition to the waste ink absorber 6) is required under the ink supply needle 1a, the number of parts is increased.
Problem 4
In the ink-jet printer shown in FIGS. 24(a) and (b), as the waste ink absorber 6 is arranged on the side of the cartridges 2, the width of the printer is increased.
Problem 5
In the ink-jet printer shown in FIGS. 24(a) and (b), as only one ink aperture 3d is provided per one cartridge 2 on the bottom plate 4 of the installed part 1, the bottom face of the cartridges 2 may be extremely contaminated by ink not injected into the aperture 3d.
Problem 6
In the ink-jet printer shown in FIGS. 24(a) and (b), since an ink absorbing means is not provided adjacent the standing wall 5, to which the ink supply needle 1a is provided, the front face of the cartridges 2 may become contaminated by ink which drops on the standing wall 5 from the ink supply needle 1a.
A first object of the present invention is to provide an ink-jet printer in which the interval between cartridges is reduced, in order to solve the above problem 1.
A second object is to provide an ink-jet printer which enables the shared use of an L-type metallic tube to solve the above problem 2.
A third object is to provide an ink-jet printer which has a reduced number of parts to solve the above problem 3.
A fourth object is to provide an ink-jet printer having a reduced width to solve the above problem 4.
A fifth object is to provide an ink-jet printer which can prevent the bottom face of each of the cartridges from being excessively contaminated to solve the above problem 5.
A sixth object is to provide an ink-jet printer which can prevent the front face of each of the cartridges from being excessively contaminated to solve the above problem 6.